Joy of Christmas

The residents of this Central Kentucky town weren’t about to let a native daughter miss her favorite holiday because of military service. So they re-created it.

When National Guard Spc. Shannon Dale, 20, returned from duty in Afghanistan on Tuesday, it was as if time had stood still.

There were twinkling Christmas lights galore in store windows and throughout the Garrard County town of roughly 2,000 residents.

Many of them waved flags to welcome Dale, who was presented with a bouquet of roses and baby’s breath, and a salute from the bearer of the flowers, Tim Robbins, chaplain of the Paint Lick-Cartersville Volunteer Fire Department. The welcome was followed by a reception with cake, punch and hot chocolate.

“I didn’t expect all this,” Dale said, a little overcome by the hoopla. “I appreciate it a lot. This was my first Christmas away from home, and I was pretty upset about missing Christmas.”

Downtown Paint Lick is less than a city block long, but several businesses kept up their Christmas decorations as a show of support to Dale, a member of the 198th Military Police Battalion based in Louisville.

Red and white ornaments still hung from a Christmas tree in Sweet Pea’s General Store and Diner. The post office window still sported garland. Wreaths and lights still graced several homes, and yard decorations remained.

And on Sunday, the Methodist church congregation will sing Christmas hymns.

It was all part of “Operation Homecoming,” in which Paint Lick resident Rita Mackin Fox encouraged businesses and residents to show their appreciation for Dale and other soldiers overseas.

Fox, who attends the same Methodist church as the Dale family, came up with the idea after learning that the Dales planned to postpone their exchange of Christmas presents until Shannon Dale returned home.

Dale said she plans to resume her studies in occupational therapy at Eastern Kentucky University. In the meantime, she has Christmas shopping to do.

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